1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid consuming system, to a liquid consuming apparatus, to a liquid supply unit, and to a method of supervising a remaining amount of liquid contained in a liquid supply unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet printer, which is one example of a liquid ejecting device, typically has one or more installed ink receptacles or ink containers which are detachable liquid receptacles. Some ink receptacles are provided with memory devices. The memory device stores information of various kinds, for example, the remaining ink amount or the color of the ink in the ink receptacle. The printer can supervise the remaining ink amount in the ink receptacle using the remaining ink amount information stored in the memory device.
JP-A 2002-370383
JP-A 2004-299405
JP-A 2008-168571
JP-A 2001-146030
JP-A 6-226989
JP-A 2003-112431
However, in conventional techniques, insufficient consideration was given to the issue of mistaken rewriting of the remaining amount of recording material, such as ink or toner, in the memory device. For example, if the remaining amount of recording material stored in the memory device is mistakenly rewritten, the printer would misjudge the remaining amount of the recording material in the recording material receptacle such as an ink cartridge or a toner cartridge. As a result, the printer might judge that there is no recording material left in the recording material receptacle when there is still some more recording material in the recording material receptacle, or judge that there is some more recording material left in the recording material receptacle when there is actually no recording material in the recording material receptacle. Such misjudgment may cause waste of recording material or failures in the printer. This issue is not limited to printers and recording material receptacles, but is rather an issue common to all manner of liquid ejecting apparatus and liquid supply units for supplying liquid to the liquid ejecting apparatus, such as an ejection apparatus for ejecting metal-containing liquid material on a semiconductor to form electrode layers, and a liquid supply device for supplying the liquid material to the ejection apparatus.